Good Thing It Was A British Explorer

Australia Day isn't until three and a bit weeks but one couldn't resist the temptation to go with this image early.

It is the third plate in the lovely Ladybird book series Flight One Australia.

The image is supposed to depict Captain James Cook landing at Botany Bay in 1770 but in fact it bares more resemblance to the portrait of Captain Phillip Arthur who settled at Sydney Cove on January 26 1788.

Note the difference between the naval ensign and the Union Jack in each of the portraits and this image.

Here's some text from the facing page in the book:

"They had an idea there was land here," said Mrs Spencer. "The old maps only had vague lines drawn on this part of the world and it was called the 'Unknown Land'. Three of four hundred years ago seamen from England, Portugal, Holland and France discovered the other side, but it was such a barren land they they didn't bother about it."

"Captain Cook came the other way," said Mike. "He sailed around South American and across the Pacific and landing in this bay. He was so excited about all the new plants he found that he called it Botany Bay."

"What a good thing it was a British explorer," said John.

Yes.

Yes indeed it is, John.

What an Adventure!

Wow, we're looking at the cockpit of a passenger liner that's half a century old with technology largely developed during World War Two.

In fact the cockpit looks as uncomfortable and as utilitarian as a bomber.

Judging by the the line art on the book's cover (see the link below), it is reasonable to believe the plane is a De Havilland Comet 4B.

This is the second colour plate from Ladybird's Flight One Australia.

What an adventure it was! First they flew right across Europe, and on over the desert and mountains of Iraq and Persia. The plan stopped for an hour at Karachi in Pakistan and then went on eastwards across India, the land of the striped tiger and the lordly elephant.

Come Fly With Me

Nick and Nora went on a little camping adventure last weekend and stopped off at the markets of a little country hamlet called Jimna.

Well markets, is somewhat over stating things, it was more like a second hand, second hand store in the local public hall.

Sadly it would appear that Jimna's best days as a timber milling town are behind it, but that's a blog for another time.

For 50 cents, Nora picked up this little 1958 Ladybird children's book Flight One Australia, the first of a series of six books which introduced geography to six year old readers.

The text is engagingly trite - just as you'd expect a children's book from half a century to read.

The great air-liner stood at the end of the runaway, ready for the journey right across the world to Australia.

Among the passengers were two very ecitied children, Alison and John. John sat beside Daddy and Alison was in the seat in front, next to a tall suburned gentleman.

The stranger pointed tot he ravellingbag on Alsion's lap, marked B.O.A.C. "I see you've got your tucket-bag,"aid. "Tucker-bag is an Australian word, it means food-bag."

"Oh, I see," said Alison. "Are you a real Australian?"

Unfortunately the paper dust jacket is long gone from this edition, but the colour plates are just as beautiful as ever. The one illustrated here is one presumes an idealistic view of the white cliffs of Dover.

This will be the first in a series on this book.

'77 The Strip

Channel 9 launches The Strip, the crime drama filmed on the Gold Coast tomorrow night.

The Charles household is in two minds whether to watch or not.

On the one hand there's a bit of voyeuristic pleasure is watching familiar landmarks on the other hand, the majority of Australian drama is awful.

So, if you're planning to watch, just spend a minute or two in the way back machine to view the Surfers Paradise strip from 1977 (click on the image for an extra large view:



Here's 'The Strip' today, courtesy of Google street maps. (Well it's not really the same because the picture above from this book is has been foreshortened thanks to a zoom lens.)


View Larger Map

UPDATE: The verdict is in and it's not good.

While the city looked lovely, as one might imagine, the show was let down by dreadful writing - not only in the dialogue but also in the police procedurals - as well as stiff, uncomfortable acting (which describes the majority of Australian TV performances).

A Brief Moment In Time

Nick and Nora took advantage of Lifeline's outstanding annual book fair in July to rummage through some literary treasures and went away with four books about the Gold Coast.

This book, naturally enough entitled the Gold Coast was certainly a must have.

Published in 1977, like many titles bout our city is very Surfers Paradise centric. The front cover showing a rather uncluttered skyline with the newly constructed fully circular Focus Apartments, the Q1 of its day, dominating the scene.


But that's okay, especially when they reveal gems like this picture looking south on what is now Surfers Paradise Boulevard.

In this neon wonderland, you can see The Walk Arcade (at the far right of the picture), an arcade incorrectly identified by Nora, previously as being on the beach side of the street but as this picture clearly shows, it is on the western side of the street, looking south.

Don't forget to click on the picture of a larger view.

Sadly, all of that stretch has since been redeveloped, which translates to razed, recomposed, realigned.

Here's today's view thanks to the incomparable Google maps:


View Larger Map

In a way the loss of the buildings is nothing - it's ephemera such as the charming and innocent animated Coppertone billboard, on which a child at the beach is losing her pants, that one really misses. The photo captures the moment at which the little girl's bikini briefs, tugged by a terrier, are at half mast.

Try getting away with a sign like that today.

The X Factor

Nicky has a knack of finding the most fascinating books hidden away in charity shops, car boot sales or old book stores.

This is one of them, Theodore Sturgeon's sci-fi classic Venus Plus X.

Nora hasn't has a chance to read it, but plans to on an upcoming camping trip.

This edition is a first edition paperback from 1960. Just take a look at the front and back covers - fabulous. The artwork was done by Victor Kalin who created vivid book cover work, some of which can be found here.


Particularly fond of the precis text: "Charlie Johns woke up... and nearly went mad".

Yeah, we've all had mornings like that.

The Queen's War

It didn't take long for Brisbane to recover from World War II, judging by this photograph of Queen Street.

The reaction to the ceasing of hostilities in the Pacific was celebrated by people getting back to their lives.

As it should be.

But the influence of the war and particularly that of General Douglas MacArthur remains in the city centre today.

During the war Queen Street became more or less a garrison.

The National Mutual Building that dominates the left third of the photograph was commandeered for the war, the tiny building dwarfed next door is Brisbane's general post office and it leads out on to Post Office Square.

The flat topped, deco building next door to that was built in 1934 was the AMP building and it is better known today for its most important temporary tenant - MacArthur Central, named for the American five star general who made the building his headquarters for the south-west Pacific operations.

There's a museum on the eighth floor which originally housed the boardroom where MacArthur conducted operations.

Queen Street, between George and Edward Streets was closed to traffic and turned into a mall in 1982 as part of the Commonwealth Games redevelopment. Today Queen Street serves an army of shoppers and office workers.

Click for a larger image, photograph from the 1948 book, Queensland.

Story Time

Nifty Knick Knack's Sunday Drive goes a little further north - 70 kilometres in fact - to the state's capital of Brisbane.

This aerial view comes from the book Queensland, written in 1948 by Frank Hurley whose work we referenced here.

It's intriguing shot. Do click on it for a larger view

From this vantage point the city looks still, deserted - something that the Government and war strategists had considered five years earlier.

The Brisbane Line - all points north to be abandoned in case of a serious Japanese invasion from the north.

Dominating the shot is the city's iconic and graceful festoon of steel, The Story Bridge, completed in 1940s and whose history can be found here.

Scrolling down to the bottom quarter of the shot is the Brisbane City Hall, a lean and lovely elegant 1920s building, which its distinctive sandstone clock tower.

As you can see from the shot, Brisbane's CBD is a very tidily laid out district with long straight streets named, appropriately enough for Kings, Queens and Regents.

It's very easy to find your way through town as long as you remember that the 'Queens' run east-west and the 'Kings' are north-south.

The view to the top of the shot shows the Brisbane River wending its way into Moreton Bay out to the Harbour.

Here's what the city looks like today (don't forget to click) from roughly the same vantage point.

The Story Bridge is the centre of the shot, below it is the strong, straight, uncompromising Captain Cook Bridge which brings south side residents and Gold Coasters directly into the city via the Riverside Expressway.

Brisbane is a beautiful capital city this will be the first of a series of Sunday Drives taking a look at Queensland's capital.

Sven And The Art of Interior Design

Ja, etz tru, ze 1960s und 1970s intro-duced to der werld lotz things Swedish.

Zer is der gud: The Saint Volvo, ABBA, naughty movies, good interior design, the Swedish chef.

Und ze bad: The boxy Volvo, the welfare state and Ikea.

Diz foto iz part of der bad.

As seen in 1972's Conde Nast's The Bride's Guide and is entry number three in Nick and Nora's Nifty Knick Knack homage to bad bathrooms.

All At Sea?

Actually this bathroom isn't too bad compared to the monstrosity featured last week.

The upright fluoro tubes on the walls by the mirrored cabinet are a little dated but that would be about it.

It has the clean lines that most of us have come to expect in modern bathrooms.

The bold pattern in the flooring isn't competing with the walls. It has a strong ocean liner/art deco look which holds particular appeal for Nick and Nora. The SOE monogrammed towels and shower curtain may be a little too much for some but it all adds to the fun.

Class, all the way.

Sins Of The Fathers

SITE OWNER'S NOTE: This Nifty Knick Knack is a little more serious than the usual charming look at retro goodies. As a result it is also being cross-posted to The Thin Man Returns, the usual home of densely-linked serious subject matter.

If you're looking for some light viewing to accompany a morning cup of coffee, please feel free to look at the images or browse through some of the other pages.

Thank you.

News of teenage violence today is as shocking as it is common.

There is almost daily news of young gangs holding entire neighbourhoods to ransom, violently drunk party-goers bashing someone whose equally drunken remark offended them, psychopathicly murderous females or simply opportunistic criminal activity.

At the same time, the media shakes itself out of its summer silly season news torpor to create a celebrity out of a smart-arsed teenager whose drunken, orgiastic riot masquerading as a party.

As many commentators begin to question 'what the hell has gone wrong with our teenagers?', Nick and Nora invite you to step into their way-back machine to give you a little insight into what's wrong with today's youth.

We'll rapidly rewind the 'Trust No 1' of the 1990s, the post apocalyptic 1980s, the seriously bummed out 1970s, the anarchic 1960s to take a pause in the 1950s.

Not the nostalgic-soaked Happy Days but an era when the headlines screamed 'Seven Teen Agers Murder Polio Victim'.

The crime was a brutal one, members of a gang called the Egyptian Kings, having lost a pay-per-player stick ball game with rival gang Jesters, decided to compound their welshing with vengeance.

One night they lay in wait for their foes to appear, two teenage boys wandered through the park.

They were beaten and stabbed. One of the boys, a 15 year old who suffered a limp as a result of polio was killed.

So sensational did that crime and associated trial become, it finally awakened people to the reality of street violence. It also happened 50 years ago.

The crime and trial did two things. It resonated with Broadway audiences:

ACTION
Dear kindly Sergeant Krupke,
You gotta understand,
It's just our bringin' up-ke
That gets us out of hand.
Our mothers all are junkies,
Our fathers all are drunks.
Golly Moses, natcherly we're punks!

ACTION AND JETS
Gee, Officer Krupke, we're very upset;
We never had the love that ev'ry child oughta get.
We ain't no delinquents,
We're misunderstood.
Deep down inside us there is good!

A powerful radio show about the Michael Farmer murder 50 years on is here. One of the commentators in the radio program is Nicky Cruz.

His story of transformation from criminal gang member to gospel preacher is told in part in The Cross And The Switchblade which became a best-selling book, a not-so-good movie and serialised here in comic book form.

The Cross And The Switchblade tells the story of a small town pastor, so shocked by the violence went to New York to share the gospel.

Admittedly naive, David Wilkinson's honest interest in the physical and spiritual welfare of gang members over five years of welfare and ministry won many of them over.

So was there anything particular about the 1950s that would cause a generation to run amok?

With the benefit of hindsight we can see some similarities - lack of spiritual direction, parents who are themselves dysfunctional to the point where the only familial connection their kids experience is in gangs.

But not all children involved in criminal activity or who find themselves victims of crime and violence are poor or ill-educated, indeed the Corey Worthingtons or the Matthew Stanleys of the world come from decidedly middle-class, relatively well off families.

So what went wrong?

For further insight, step back into the way-back machine for a trip past the 1940s when war ruled the world, the 1930s when the effects of the Great Depression bit hard to the Roaring 1920s, home to flappers, gangsters, wild parties and hedonistic wealth.

There is a scene the 1936 film My Man Godfrey in which the title character has it out with the brattish twentysomething daughter of his employer:

Cornelia Bullock: You can't go on like this forever. You really like me and you're afraid to admit it, aren't you?
Godfrey: You want me to tell you what I REALLY think of you?
Cornelia Bullock: Please do.
Godfrey: As Smith or as a butler?
Cornelia Bullock: Choose your own weapon.
Godfrey: You won't hold it against me?
Cornelia Bullock: It's your day off.
Godfrey: Very well. You belong to that unfortunate category that I would call the "Park Avenue brat". A spoiled child who's grown up in ease and luxury... who's always had her own way... and who's misdirected energies are so childish that they hardly deserve the comment, even of a butler on his off Thursday.
Cornelia Bullock: [hurt and angry] Thank you for a very lovely portrait.

Today there are a great deal of 'Park Avenue brats' who have grown up indulged with distractions and material possessions, wanting for nothing but consistent, effective discipline, the setting of boundaries and a realisation that the world doesn't revolve around them.

Gold Coast Bulletin columnist Robyn Wuth is on the right path when she wrote this week:

There you are, Australia. That's the youth of today -- aren't you proud?

Take a good look at the iGeneration and bear this frightening thought in mind -- this idiot and his stupid mates could be running the country in the next generation.

God help us all.

This is what the world is churning out these days and we have no one but ourselves to blame, us and the education system for turning out these ignorant little twits who are yet to have a thought, for teaching them more about their legal rights as horrid little brats instead of the three Rs.

Us, and the Government, and the legal system for making it harder and harder to discipline our children.

Us, and computer games, iPods and the internet for helping to turn out a generation of selfish little show-offs, publicity whores who want their 15 minutes of fame and then some.

Also, blame the parents of the 500 other kids who turned up and went wild. Where the hell were you? Did any one of them know where their kids were and what they were up to? I doubt it.

We can all feast on a sizeable portion of finger-pointing pie...

Long story, short: what's wrong with the kids of today? It's not just their parents, but also their grandparents, great grandparents and great, great grandparents.

The solution doesn't begin with government programs, police intervention or social workers. It begins with us.

What example do we set in our own behaviour and the standards we want to see in ourselves and others?

It Won't Wash

As a young newlywed how do you redecorate a small bathroom in an older home?


That's right - introduce even more colour and pattern! From the 1972's The Bride's Guide:

The small square bathroom typical of many found in big old houses, is brightened effectively by use of bold yellow (shudder) patterns on the wallpaper and tiles (Yes, but not both. Certainly not two hideously clashing patterns). The bath is panelled to match the splashback, and a splendid old mirror has been fitted to reflect and enlarge the room. (The mirror, suspended commode and basin are perhaps the only things worth keeping in this monstrosity).

Heigh-Ho, Heigh-Ho

It's back to work week in the Charles' household.

The prospect of returning from holidays doesn't hold the same dismay as it did when Nick and Nora worked for other people or even the terror of returning back to school

Mainly, it's because we're masters of our own destiny, secondly we get to work together which has plenty of pleasant compensations.

Were things easier back in the past when housewives stayed at home to suffer through the monotony and murderous drudgery of housework and the menfolk went back into the work place to be fawned over by man-hungry, ambitious young secretaries?

Probably not.

The image at left, by the way, is in the household safety section of 1972 The Young Homemaker (Book Two) that we've previously profiled here.

Husbands worked hard to buy their womenfolk a time saving appliance like this:

Click on the image to see a much larger (and readable version from the October 9, 1948 edition of Saturday Evening Post).

While much has been written, usually in the post-feminist milieu, of capable war and home forces women being shoved back into their roles of wives, mothers and housekeepers post-World War II, there was another side of the story.

It must have been very difficult to swallow the safe predictable life of the workaday world after experiencing the life and death adrenalin rush that fed the terror of facing combat.

The subject is thoughtfully illustrated in Sloan Wilson's Man in the Gray Flannel suit (pictured is the first edition 1956 Australian copy - hence the reason why the title is changed from 'gray' [US spelling] to the local 'grey').

Filmed in 1956 starring the magnificent Gregory Peck in the title role, The Man in the Gray Flannel tells the story of a man trying hard to adjust back to the safe, monotonous civilian life after the end of the war while keeping some secrets of his time overseas.

Doubtless many men felt the same.

Still the seeds of independence were sown and young women of Nora's mother's generation read books like the 1963 Supreme Book For Girls and dreamt of a pre-marriage career as exciting Beryl (now there's a name that's fallen out of favour) the air hostess.

As always, don't forget to click to view large-size readable versions.





Ah you're back.

It's a no nonsense story, nicely handed by Beryl and happily concluded at the end of 16 frames with absolutely no appearance of anyone shouting Allahu Akbar or the intervention of an armed sky marshal.

But perhaps the woman in today's Daily Mail op-ed columns might have felt more comfortable in the above scenario if the hostie handling the problem was more like bloke instead of a mere slip of a girl.

Design Classics

We've showcased some interior design horrors on Nifty Knick Knacks but this isn't one of them.


Lovely furniture with simple lines that also does double duty (note the drawers in the table and the daybed which has storage below).

It certainly wouldn't be out of place in a small apartment or a family room today, yet is more than half a century old.

The room is described in the 1952 edition of Interior Decorating For You:

Specially woven monotone Indian wool rug for a man's bed-sittingroom. A complete modern touch is the bulletin board over the bed for mementos destined to a short life.

A Real Page Turner

Look what Nora found in her Christmas stocking!

This from 1963


And this from 1970


And the more interesting back view


The first published for British and Commonwealth children by publishers such as the likes of Dean And Son, these annuals were a summer school holiday treat.

Sadly they fell by the wayside during the 1980s and 1990s but these books of a fashion could well be making a comeback with Miriam Peskowitz and Andrea Buchanan's The Daring Book For Girls.

Don't worry, they're treasured here at the Charles household.

More to come on these beauties as we mine for gems of a bygone age.

Does Dean and Son still exist?

Not sure, a quick google would suggest not, although the University of North Texas has a short but charming history of Dean and Son Publications right here.

Curiouser And Curiouser

Geometric panels on one wall inspired the color for the rest of the walls. It seems to make sense after the designer dropped acid.

Together they form a light blue background for the vivid colors that they show off. The floor covering takes the wall color just a shade darker. In other words, standard insane asylum decor.

An op-art fabric, a tangle of many shades, provides motion. More static patterns climb the wall. Oh God! Oh God! Stop the swaying monkeys, stop the swaying monkeys!

Purple, pink and yellow cubes topped with a red triangle echo the colours in the massive geometric painting. Brown sofa shows geometric texture. Only if you're Timothy Leary.

Modern red chairs have circle backs set on square outlines with shiny metal trim. Between them, a white rectangular table accents accessories, provides storage for books or magazines. Eat me! Drink Me!

A circular table stands unexpectedly on red legs. Arrrggghhh!! Arrggghhh!! It's unexpectedly coming towards me on its unexpectedly red legs.

From the Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement Book 2 Ame to Bas (1970 Meredith Corporation)

Wall Of Sound

Now it's the TV screen that's big and the stereo that's small.

From the Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement Book 2 Ame to Bas (1970 Meredith Corporation)

Girls Ordered

"TWO ANNUALS YOU MUST OWN"

Or else...

1959 advertisement from the Schoolgirls' Own Library as found in

Reds In The Bed

From the Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement Book 2 Ame to Bas (1970 Meredith Corporation) :

Bedroom at lower right is a good bad
example of how you can create an illusion of spaciousness nightmare, even in a small- or
average-size apartment bedroom. Using one color throughout gives an expansive claustrophobic feeling.
Bedspreads, draperies, and upholstered seat on chair are all of the same fabric
as the material used to cover the walls and the headboard which serve to induce migraines and general feelings of
panic. The picture on the wall behind the beds blends into the scheme,
for an unbroken hallucinogenic
effect. Carpeting and lampshade in the same basic color continue the monotone frightening design.

There. That's better.

When It's Hot In Brisbane...

Long before Surfers Paradise became the Gold Coast's holiday destination, the southern sea-side town of Coolangatta was the place to see and be seen.

Named for a clipper which ran around in 1842, Coolangatta was quickly settled for its proximity to the Tweed River and its fertile volcanic soil and stayed popular for its temperate climate and lovely swimming beaches.

Coolangatta is the Queensland part of a twin town, the other being Tweed Heads in New South Wales. The two grew up together and the only things that have divided them during all this time have been the 1919 flu pandemic (when State borders were closed), State of Origin (Queensland vs NSW in rugby league) and daylight savings which NSW has and Queensland does not.

Coolangatta was the place to do the Hokey Pokey, learn to surf and find a summer romance. During the 1940s it was also a place for Australian and American troops to enjoy some R&R.

And naturally where there is a holiday spot there are souvenirs. The pin dish on the left shows the main street with the Coolangatta hotel on the right. The hotel is still there, just not exactly in that form.

The cup on the right features the skyline of Coolangatta with St Augustine's Catholic church in the background. Here's a closer view.

And Nick and Nora are delighted to report that the church is still here. See, there are some things about the Gold Coast that stay longer than two minutes.


A variation of the view is found in Frank Hurley's 1950 book on Queensland which undoubtedly created a lot less controversy than this book on Queensland.

The land feature dominating the scene on the cup and the photograph is called Razor Back and it features a lookout that sweeps across the headland.

So popular Coolangatta has been that it was the subject of not one but TWO songs:

The 1920s jazz era, Coolangatta Is The Place For Me, and

The 1953 classic It's Hot In Brisbane But It's Coolangatta.

Both sites have MP3 recordings but at the time linking were unavailable.

Shame isn't it? Complain to your local parliamentarian. Preserving local history properly is a much better way to spend... I don't know, let's say $900,000 than on some third-hand rewrite of Queensland history.